The family of Gabby Petito on Monday announced a wrongful death lawsuit against police in Moab, Utah, accusing the department of failing to properly investigate her domestic violence case and protect her.
The lawsuit, which seeks $50 million in damages, comes around the anniversary of Petito’s death.
Petito was 22 when she was reported missing in
September 2021. She was on a monthslong cross-country trip living in a van with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.
Petito’s body was found in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming on Sept. 19, 2021. It was determined she had been dead for
at least three weeks, and her death was ruled a homicide by “manual strangulation.” Laundrie, who was named a person of interest in the case, was
found dead from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound in Florida’s Carlton Reserve in October 2021.
Laundrie admitted to killing Petito in writings that were found after his death,
officials have said.
The notice of intent filing, which is required before suing government entities, was filed against the Moab City Police Department, its then-Chief Bret Edge, ex
-Assistant Chief Braydon Palmer, and Officers Eric Pratt and Daniel Robbins.
The Moab City Police Department did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment. A representative for the city of Moab said it does not comment on pending litigation.
The suit will center on a police encounter with Petito and Laundrie
on Aug. 12, 2021, during their trip in Utah, shortly before her death.
That interaction made headlines following Petito's disappearance, with
body camera footage released showing Petito visibly distraught. According to the police report, Petito told officers she had slapped Laundrie and hit him first and that he had grabbed her face.
But ultimately, both Petito and Laundrie said that they did not want to press charges and that they loved each other.
An
independent review, completed in January this year, found that the officers made several mistakes in handling that case —misclassifying it as more of a mental/emotional health “break” rather than domestic violence, and lacking details in their reports.
Their reports lacked details or documentation of any injury Petito suffered — and no one appeared to ask Laundrie about a scratch on Petito’s cheek, the independent review found.
In the new filing, lawyers for the Petito family argue that had police officers involved in that incident had proper training — teaching them to conduct a thorough lethality assessment and recognize signs of abuse — they’d know “Gabby was a victim of intimate partner violence” and needed “immediate protection.”
In that incident, Laundrie and Petito were stopped in their van by officers who saw the vehicle speeding, crossing the double yellow line and hitting a curb near Arches National Park. A witness had called police, reporting they saw Laundrie “slapping” Petito.
Officers Pratt and Robbins interviewed Petito and Laundrie separately.
Robbins said he observed cuts on Petito's cheek and arm in his report, but court documents said that when she was asked about her fight with Laundrie, she “displayed the classic hallmarks of an abused partner” in trying to take the blame, saying she hit him first and didn’t want to be separated from him.
Lawyers for the Petito family said a new photo, that hasn’t been released to the public yet, shows a close-up of Petito's face “where blood is smeared on her cheek and left eye.”
“The photo shows that Gabby’s face was grabbed across her nose and mouth, potentially restricting her airway,” the filing said.